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KF5JRV > TODAY 13.07.19 13:51l 9 Lines 2563 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 10514_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jul 13
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<JH4XSY<N3HYM<KF5JRV
Sent: 190713/1150Z 10514@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
On this day in 1978, Ford Motor Company chairman Henry Ford II fires LeeIacocca as Ford’s president, ending years of tension between the twomen.
Born to an immigrant family in Pennsylvania in 1924, Iacocca was hiredby Ford as an engineer in 1946 but soon switched to sales, at which heclearly excelled. By 1960, Iaccoca had become a vice president andgeneral manager of the Ford division, the company’s largest marketingarm. He successfully championed the design and development of thesporty, affordable Ford Mustang, an achievement that landed him on thecovers of Time and Newsweek magazines in the same week in 1964.
In December 1970, Henry Ford II named Iacocca president of Ford, but hisbrash, unorthodox style soon brought him into conflict with his boss.According to Douglas Brinkley’s history of Ford “Wheels for the World,öHenry authorized $1.5 million in company funds for an investigation ofIacocca’s business and private life in 1975. Suffering from a heartcondition and aware that the time for his retirement was approaching,Ford made it clear that he eventually wanted to turn the company over tohis son Edsel, then just 28. In early 1978, Iacocca was told he wouldreport to another Ford executive, Philip Caldwell, who was named deputychief executive officer. In his increasingly public struggle with Ford,Iacocca made an attempt to find support among the company’s board ofdirectors, giving Ford the excuse he needed to fire him. As Iacoccalater wrote in his bestselling autobiography, Ford called Iacocca intohis office shortly before 3 pm on July 13, 1978 and let him go, tellinghim “Sometimes you just don’t like somebody.ö
News of the firing shocked the industry, but it turned into a boon forIacocca. The following year, he was hired as president of the ChryslerCorporation, which at the time was facing bankruptcy. Iacocca went tothe federal government for aid, banking on his belief that thegovernment would not let Chrysler fail for fear of weakening an alreadyslumping economy. The gamble paid off, with Congress agreeing to bailout Chrysler to the tune of $1.5 billion. Iacocca streamlined thecompany’s operations, focused on producing more fuel-efficient cars andpursued an aggressive marketing strategy based on his own powerfulpersonality. After showing a small profit in 1981, Chrysler postedrecord profits of more than $2.4 billion in 1984. By then a nationalcelebrity, Iacocca retired as chief executive of Chrysler in 1992. Hedied on July 2, 2019.
73, Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV @ KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Email: KF5JRV@GMAIL.com
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